1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a utility lighter which contains a double-triggering safety mechanism, wherein normal operation of the lighter by pressing only the safety trigger will not produce any sparks and wherein operation of both the safety trigger and an ignition trigger will produce a spark and a flame.
2. Background Art
Utility lighters are very useful and have become quite prevalent in modern times. Utility lighters of the type described herein generally contain a handle and an elongated lighting rod. The shape and operation of utility lighters allow for several advantages over normal means of producing a flame. Most significantly, due to the elongated nature of the lighting rod, utility lighters enable the operator to stand a safe distance away from the object to be ignited before actuating the lighter, thus avoiding a large number of potential accidents. In addition, utility lighters allow a flame to be produced in hard-to-reach or narrow places, where the human hand holding a match would not normally fit. Still, in the hands of children, or others who do not know how to safely and properly operate the lighter, such lighters are as dangerous as any other spark and/or flame-producing device. Therefore, a need has been realized to equip utility lighters with safety features that minimize accidental or improper use by inexperienced persons, especially young children.
Many inventions have been created to address this safety-related concern. Generally, these inventions have sought to introduce safety mechanisms that disable automatic operation of either the spark-generation and/or the fuel-release function of the lighter. For example, some utility lighters provide for a blocking mechanism, where the actuating trigger is blocked from moving the required distance for a spark to be generated. In these lighters, the locking mechanism is normally de-activated by sliding an xe2x80x9con/offxe2x80x9d switch to the xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d position, or by other means, so as to remove the impediment from the actuating trigger""s operating path.
Although utility lighters of the type described above provide some level of safety, there is much room for improvement. Specifically, in these lighters, once the locking means (e.g., the on/off switch) is disabled, the lighter remains in the unlocked state until the locking mechanism is activated again. Therefore, if the operator disables the locking mechanism in order to use the lighter, and then forgets to re-lock the lighter, the safety feature of the lighter is rendered useless, until the locking mechanism is again activated.
In order to address this problem, some inventions have introduced locking mechanisms that are activated automatically after each use of the lighter. In general, this improvement has alleviated some of the fears associated with leaving the lighter in an unlocked, operable position after the operator has finished using the lighter. However, one disadvantage of such utility lighters is that their operation is usually cumbersome. Frequently, in order to use such automatic-locking utility lighters, the operator must use more than one finger, and sometimes more than one hand, to perform several functions simultaneously. As such, loss of ease of use is the price that is paid for any additional amount of safety that might be achieved.
Other inventions have attempted to address the safety-related issues by impeding not the operation of the trigger, but that of the fuel-release mechanism. Of course, a utility lighter containing such a mechanism would inhibit flame generation in the locked position as no fuel would be released until the locking mechanism has been deactivated. However, in these types of lighters, nothing prevents a spark from being generated. As such, the safety goals are only partially met in these types of lighters since young children handling the lighter could still create fires by operating the lighter in close proximity to a source of fuel or near carpets, paper, or other flammable material. In addition, the same disadvantages that were discussed above with respect to trigger-locking mechanisms apply equally well to fuel-release disabling mechanisms.
Therefore, there is a need for a device that not only achieves the stated safety goals, but also is amenable to operation with relative ease. The invention described herein offers such a combination. The invention requires that an ignition trigger, located in a cavity within the safety trigger, be depressed simultaneously with the safety trigger before a flame can be produced. In this way, young children are coaxed into believing that they can operate the lighter in the usual way, i.e., by pressing the safety trigger. However, such operation will produce neither a spark nor a flame. Moreover, given the relatively small size of the ignition trigger, operation of this trigger requires an amount of strength and pulp that are rarely found in the fingers of young children. At the same time, due to the placement of the ignition trigger, simultaneous operation of both the safety trigger and the ignition trigger requires use of only one finger, so that operation of the lighter by the intended adult user is no different from operation of a lighter with no safety mechanism at all.
The primary object of this invention is to provide a safety mechanism for utility lighters so that children or inexperienced users will be less likely to inadvertently activate the lighter. Such a safety feature is especially important because young children often play with lighters as toys and because lighters have mechanically moveable parts that make them attractive to children as toys.
Another object of the present invention is to prevent the generation of not only a flame, but even a spark. As noted previously, in a lighter where only the fuel-release mechanism is inhibited in the locked state, young children playing with the lighter can still use the lighter to create sparks. Depending on the child""s surroundings, this can lead to the start of accidental fires if the child is operating the lighter near paper products or any other source of flammable material.
A further object of the invention described herein is to provide an improved device for maximizing safety in utility lighters without compromising ease of use. To this end, for the intended user, the invention aims to leave operation of the utility lighter as simple as it has always been to operate a regular utility lighter with no safety feature.
The invention meets its objectives by providing an ignition trigger that must be depressed in order for a spark and a flame to be produced. The ignition trigger is placed within the lighter""s safety trigger, parallel to the lighter""s longitudinal axis, with a portion of the ignition trigger (i.e., the ignition trigger""s operation section) extending outside of the safety trigger""s operation section. Typically, a young child will attempt to activate the lighter by depressing the safety trigger only. However, when this is done, neither a spark nor a flame will be generated as the safety trigger is stopped along its path by a stopper before the spark-producing mechanism can be activated. The stopper is permanently attached to the inner surface of the lighter housing shell, so that it cannot be removed out of the safety trigger""s path. As such, repeated operation of the trigger by a child will yield the same unsuccessful results.
The only way to activate the lighter is to depress the ignition trigger. When this is done, initially, the ignition trigger and the safety trigger will move towards the back end of the lighter in unison. However, when the stopper engages the safety trigger, the operator must continue to depress the ignition trigger until the spark-producing mechanism is activated. This is a simple, yet effective concept. Nevertheless, it is a concept that a young child operating the lighter must recognize and grasp before he or she can successfully operate the lighter. In most cases, the child will not recognize the usefulness of the ignition trigger and will abandon the lighter after several unsuccessful attempts.
Moreover, even if a child does attain an appreciation for the interrelationship between the ignition trigger, the safety trigger, and the production of a flame, he/she will still have difficulty activating the lighter. The portion of the ignition trigger that is exposed (i.e., the ignition trigger operation section) is small relative to the size of the safety trigger. As such, it is more difficult to fully depress the ignition trigger than if the operator needed to depress only the larger, more easily reachable, safety trigger. Thus, the single finger of a young child will not be able to fully depress the ignition trigger. Moreover, because of the smaller size and location of the ignition trigger, a child cannot use a plurality of fingers to try and depress the ignition trigger. As such, the strength needed to depress the ignition trigger, and the lack thereof in young children, itself acts as a deterrent in the present invention.
Furthermore, in one embodiment, the lighter can be constructed in such a way that, in order for the lighter to be successfully operated, the ignition trigger would have to be pressed in far enough so that the ignition trigger""s operation section travels just past the safety trigger""s operation section. In order to achieve this task, the operator""s finger must have enough pulp to depress the ignition trigger past and into the safety trigger""s body. While an adult operator can easily perform this procedure, a child operator will have difficulty doing so. Hence, again, the structural configuration of the safety mechanism of the present invention would act as a deterrent to use by young children.
Finally, as can be understood from the above description, the invention disclosed herein achieves its safety objectives without making operation of the lighter any more cumbersome than a regular utility lighter with no safety feature. Specifically, the ignition trigger is shaped and positioned in such a way that operation of the lighter is very simple in experienced hands. An adult user familiar with the operation of utility lighters need use only one finger and activate the lighter as he or she would normally. This allows the user to operate the lighter in a safe, yet non-complicated manner.
This and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent through the following description of the drawings and detailed description of the preferred embodiment.